Doctors can know accusers; ruling doesn't set precedent

The Illinois Legislature is considering a bill that would require the identities of doctors signing certificates of merit to be revealed.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. June 7, 2004.

An Illinois appellate court has outlined what doctors need to do to gain access to the name of a physician who anonymously signs an affidavit initiating a medical malpractice lawsuit against them.

But there's a catch.

The order is an unpublished opinion, meaning that it won't set a precedent that others will be able to cite in future court attempts. Illinois requires a "certificate of merit" be signed before a medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed.

"The AMA is astonished that subsequent cases in Illinois courts will be denied the precedential value of the opinion in Sullivan v. DeJong," said AMA President Donald J. Palmisano, MD. "The Illinois Appellate Court's decision not to publish its opinion in the case effectively nullified a primary goal of the appellate process: to clarify the law and enable its proper application through publication."

The court's order is posted on the AMA's Web site (www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/395/sullivan-dejong.pdf).

Although it doesn't establish case law, the order does provide a road map that doctors could follow in future filings.

"It's a disappointment," said Illinois State Medical Society President Kenneth J. Printen, MD, of the fact that the ruling won't be posted by the appellate court. "But we can tell folks, 'This is what the rules are.' ... That is a start."

ISMS and the Litigation Center of the American Medical Association/State Medical Societies supported suburban Chicago emergency physician William P. Sullivan, DO, in his legal pursuit to find out the name of a physician who signed an affidavit against him in a lawsuit that was ultimately dropped.